I have an 8-year-old granddaughter whose father is going for surgery this week to become a woman. She doesn't live with him but has visitation, the courts here in Canada insist on it. There was a long three-year battle over this. How does my daughter, my granddaughter's mother, explain this situation to her dear little girl? This is such a tough situation, but my daughter wants to say the right Christian thing. Can you please help?

Answer by Catholic Answers on 9/13/2013:

Anonymous--

The problem is, if she says anything negative about the child's father's choices, it can be construed as attempting to poison the child's relationship with her father. Should the child's father decide to make a legal issue of it, your daughter risks losing custody of her daughter and thereby being legally required to allow her daughter to live with this man.

I'm afraid she's going to have to maintain silence on the matter and follow any court orders to the letter, for the greater good of keeping custody. I can only recommend that she refer her daughter's questions to a pastor, child counselor, or someone else who has the training and objectivity necessary to affirm that your daughter's response to her daughter has been above reproach. Your daughter will simply have to pray, trust, and offer up personal sacrifice to God for her child's well-being, and seek to be for her daughter the model of Christian womanhood she wants her daughter to emulate and admire.